Maximillian Pirate
The second oldest of the Pirate siblings, Maximillian 'Max' Pirate is an approximately 320 year old human male who mainly operates the various iterations of his own bar business, "The Cannonball Pub". Appearance Muscular, well-defined. Slightly spiked brown hair curved upward in the back, but straight with a slight middle slant in the front. Emerald-green eyes with thin diagonal scars running across his cheeks in an upside-down 'V' pattern. Wears styled high-tread boots with sand-leggings, jeans underneath that. Red short-sleeve V-neck over a black tank top. Black bandana with white skull imprint and missing lower jaw. Black finger-less gloves. Personality The most outgoing and social of the Pirate siblings, Max is a brash and reckless individual. He has not changed much, if at all, over the course of his extended life, remaining highly adventurous and mischievous. Though he tends to shoot first and ask questions later, his recent conversion into becoming completely mortal again (see History) has led him to exert slightly more restraint than usual, (which isn't much to begin with). He enjoys the same 3 vices he did when he was young, which are alcohol, women, and money. Despite maintaining an air of bravado which he futilely uses in his womanizing pursuits, he is secretly a masochist, and enjoys being dominated by virtually all types of women in bed. He is highly concerned with his sculpted appearance and considers himself quite attractive, and will usually go to great lengths to prove it, though laziness and carelessness often puts in him a position where he opts to "tactically retreat to fight another day", never admitting outright defeat when he finds himself in a sticky situation. He is not particularly kind; as he would just as likely put a bullet through you as he would serve you a drink, largely influenced by how much coin you have. That said, he tends to keep up a friendly, boisterous attitude and is not initially aggressive. This isn't all, however, as he lets his indifference and obliviousness get the better of him and will even reject large sums of monetary compensation if he is not particularly interested in the problems or endeavors that others request his help in. He has a fascination with weapons of all sorts, particularly firearms and swords, and enjoys collecting various types of them and hoarding them in several locations. He prefers direct confrontation over sneaking about. The only other thing he cares about more than himself would be his beloved "Cannonball Pub", which he takes great care of in order to run smoothly and profitably, taking great offense whenever it becomes damaged or out rightly destroyed through the actions of others. Even though he is settling down in a niche currently, Max is a dreamer, and years for bigger and better adventures, remaining a quintessential example of a pirate of legend. History Birth and Adolescence The exact date of Max's birth is unknown, but he reached young adulthood in the late 1690s, during the dawn of the Golden Age of Piracy. His childhood is also ambiguous, but what is known was that he was an orphan, and grew up along with his orphan siblings in a harsh, pirate-controlled port town. Running away from the orphanage wherein they suffered physical abuse, they quickly picked up street smarts and spent their adolescence learning cons and acquainting themselves with the underworld. Max would grow to be a respectable pirate himself, winning many brawls and climbing the ranks of many crews. He was reckless, however, and had problems with authority. The gold he did manage to secure from successful operations he would just as quickly lose through gambling, taverns, and whore houses. Despite this, he was known for his tenacity and commitment to getting a job done for the payday, and so was usually sought after for risky raids and thefts most others would rule as suicide. Early Adulthood Sometime into his early 20's, a blood-curse was accidentally triggered elsewhere by his younger brother, Pocket Pirate, and afflicted all of the Pirate siblings for sharing a bloodline connection. This curse bestowed upon him infertility, constant hunger, thirst, aches, pains, and decay, but also immortality. It was meant for those afflicted to suffer for eternity. However, Max was not overcome with the voices and nightmares that haunted his other two siblings, so his debilities were mostly physical. Despite this, his mental and physical fortitude allowed him to quickly adjust and learn to tolerate these side-effects as time went by. He would not let a measely curse stop him from enjoying his rum, loving his women, and amassing treasures. The decay was mostly noticeable under the light of a blood moon, though significant time under a bright full moon would also reveal his true, grotesque appearance. Plusdw Arc After 3 centuries of adapting and evolving with several societies around the world, Max had participated in many wars and mercenary operations in numerous locations. His travels eventually led him to an island known as +dw, wherein he found his brother, Pocket Pirate, after many many years of being apart and not hearing from one another. Wanting to take a break from traveling, Max decided to construct the very first "Cannonball Pub", one of the only structures on +dw where its inhabitants, most of whom would become his friends, would come together, drink, and exchange tales, stories, histories, and plots. The venue was successful, and attracted many patrons. This however, resulted in the pub being a focal point in a multitude of destructive events, from small scale fights to large scale battles between ultra-powerful entities. Every time the bar was damaged, Max would rebuild, until The Apostle struck. Max had learned that his brother had attempted to forcefully rid himself of the curse through a magic ritual, sealing it within an amulet. However, the nature of the curse was such that even when removed, it took his soul with it, and Pocket Pirate was considered dead shortly after the curse was removed. The amulet now contained the curse and all of its power. This was soon sought out by EHG, and hoping to usurp its energy without succumbing to its negative effect due to his demon nature, EHG equipped the amulet just before fighting an entity known as the Apostle. The cursed amulet, however, did not work as EHG had planned. Instead of bestowing him with additional power, the spiritual energy of the curse could not mix with his demonic energy, and the two simply cancelled each other out, resulting in EHG becoming essentially powerless, and promptly defeated by the Apostle. The amulet itself managed to survive yet again, but now housing both the cursed spiritual energy of Pocket Pirate, and the demonic energy of EHG's hair demon, essentially containing two pocket universes residing side by side. Max could still sense his brother's essence within the cursed amulet, and with the help of Caffeine's portal-opening abilities as a Door Warden, was able to enter the amulet itself in an attempt to rescue his brother. At the same time, the amulet was being sought out by a strike team belonging to a secret organization, and was led by an individual known as Gunman. Inside the amulet, Max quickly realized he was in the wrong end, finding himself surrounded by demonic hair entities, toying with him before consuming him. An interference from Dream gave Max the chance to slip away however, and he plunged through one universe through to the other. He found himself in a field of skulls, a blinding green soulnado in the distance. When he stood before it, his brother's drastically decomposed image greeted him, and told him his efforts were for naught, as he has become indistinct from the curse itself now. Max was not so easily deterred though, and struck a deal with a guardian spirit of the curse, to release his brother from bondage within the amulet. The Guardian spirit was reluctant, but agreed after another term was agreed upon: Pocket Pirate must forever live with the curse and furthermore restore the civilization from whence the curse had come. Should Pocket Pirate fail to do this or attempt to remove the curse again, he shall be destroyed entirely. Pocket Pirate agreed, and he and Max both sprung from the curse amulet back into the physical realm. Peace did not last, however, as there were already battles among Pocket and Max's closest friends against the mysterious individuals led by Gunman. Max engaged Gunman directly, and scarred his face with an unexpected explosive throw. The others had suffered injuries as well, and they pulled back. For the moment, it seemed all was well, but peace would not last, for an even greater threat was coming. EHG was eventually restored as well, but soon thereafter an enormous robotic monstrosity invaded +dw, donning the name "Unbeliever". It possessed the capability to analyze powers used by enemies in front of it and incorporate them for itself, to use against those very same enemies. It had absorbed numerous abilities, but grew considerally more powerful once it absorbed Pocket's spectral manipulation abilities. In the end, it took EHG's sacrifice to destroy it, and left a broken and battered Plusdw, with the pub in ruins along with everything else. EHG's human ghost appeared briefly to warn them of the greatest impending threat-- greater even than the Unbeliever, and in just a few weeks time, his warning came to fruition-- The Apostle had arrived. The Apostle was mysterious and cryptic, what or who it was, a mystery. All that was known is that it possessed an ultimate power-- Deletion. Despite rebuilding the bar yet again, the Apostle wasted no time in targeting it for deletion. With Max still inside and shouting threats at the Apostle from a window as the Apostle lifted the entire structure up, and deleted it. Deletion Upon deletion, Max was banished from existence itself. He was transported to a dead-end dimension, nameless, formless, and unbound by time, matter, or physical or magical laws of any sense. Here Max spent what felt like multiple eternities. It was both populated, yet unpopulated, by beings he would refer to later as "Viruses". Entities of every chaotic shape and form you could possibly imagine-- and those you can't imagine, categorized by their ability to either to copy, restore, or destroy. Destruction Viruses were just that-- anything in the dimension, whether it was other viruses or those unlucky enough to be sent there by other means, would be completely deconstructed. Down further than subatomic particles, these viruses would also disassemble memories, emotions, fears, dreams, spirits, souls, anything. Yet just as quickly as one virus would dismantle Max, another 'Restore' virus would attempt to reconstruct him all together in the correct order. When the Restore Virus would complete, Max would either be destroyed again by a Destruction Virus, or be consumed by a Copy Virus, which would first dissassemble Max into as many pieces as possible, then attempt to copy each and every piece of his data and form 'new' Max's from small data points from the original, resulting in near infinite versions of Max that were fed upon, restored, and copied further by more viruses. In a place where time has never existed, Max would struggle between disassociation and re-association, being thrown from one and the other repeatedly would be enough to drive even the most stable mind insane. But Max was stubborn. He grew annoyed each time he was reassembled, or copied. What might've felt like centuries of this madness only allowed Max to redouble his fortitude, and learn to come into consciousness. First he would only be able to do it for a few milliseconds before being taken apart again. But eventually, milliseconds grew to seconds, and seconds to minutes. He would try to retain as much as possible while he could, and soon enough he noticed something. One particular virus, though typically amorphous, occasionally took a shape that reminded Max of a giant whale. He would notice this 'whale' going to places no other viruses tended to go, and disappear and reappear at distant intervals. This, to him, was his escape out of an inescapable prison. Despite only having a few minutes of consciousness before being overcome by more viruses, Max managed to cling to the whale-like Virus just as it was disappearing through a rift through the dimensions unreality itself. He rode atop of it, cheering and bellowing as it absorbed part of his data and entered the reality he was previously deleted from. He had done what no other being had ever done and escaped deletion. Upon regaining consciousness in the real world again and the whale-like virus nowhere to be found, Max noticed that he felt different. He felt...no pain. No hunger. No thirst. That night was a full moon and he gazed upon it for hours, but his flesh never changed. He attempted to sense the familiar spiritual energies of the curse, but they were not there anymore. He would not know it at the time, or ever in fact, but during his time in the Deletion Dimension, where his very existance was constantly being destroyed and put back together and copied...that mistakes were made. The viruses were not perfect. Such rapid and repeated activity inevitably caused errors in reconstruction such that Max at one point was coded back incorrectly, and the data for his curse was corrupted and lost. He was mortal once more, to live a life that was put on pause for over three centuries. Unfortunately, Max would not spend his last days on Plusdw, because in his absence, Plusdw was, itself, deleted by the Apostle. Drawchan After leaving the empty void where the island of Plusdw used to be, Max went back to becoming a freelance mercenary. He also took up profession as a bounty hunter. He picked up numerous collections of hi-tech gadgets, weapons, and body armor. After several years of combat, Max decided once more to travel, and he soon enough found himself within Drawchan City. He had visited once or twice before, but narrowly escaped another battle with Gunman, who had tracked him down. Hoping to start anew, but lacking the funds to build a new bar, Max contacted Killy McSkullfucker for aid in robbing the local bank in an effort to obtain the funds necessary for the construction of an extravagant new bar that both he and Killy would enjoy, as the bars that were available were simply too "clubby" for either of their likes. The robbery never happened, however, as Max found out that no one in the city uses the bank at all, and was essentially devoid of cash. Nevertheless, Max opened up a small lemonade-stand style bar, once again opening "The Cannonball Pub" for business. With some success, Max was finally settling down once more. But the curse of the Cannonball was far from over, as it, too was eventually destroyed by a new acquaintance, Blank, and her robotic friend, Slate. With the funds from the stand, however, along with striking a few underworld deals, Max was able to construct a second Cannonball Pub, this time completely full-sized with a stocked bar, tables and booths, as well as the beginnings of bar snacks to keep the patrons thirsty and drinking. He hired Blank to be head of security in order to pay off her debt to him for destroyed his previous bar, and Slate was delegated towards cleaning duties. What else the large city of Drawchan will unleash on Max, only time will tell. Powers, Abilities, and Equipment Pre-Curse Initially, Max was but a normal human being, without extravagant power or skills beyond sailing,' fighting', and building. Despite this, he was a reputable pirate, and of those skills he had, he did them well. He was a particularly good shot with flintlock pistols, and an excellent swordsman. * Flintlock Pistols '- Good for one shot in most practical situations, he often carried more than one. * '''Cutlass '- thin and easy to handle Curse The curse bestowed many woes but also many gifts, and his unnatural life through the years gave him expertise in many weapons. * '''Immortality - The curse keeps him alive so that he may suffer evermore. * Undead - His body, though masked during the day and most nights as a healthy young make, is actually little more than rotting flesh and bone held together by unnatural spectral bonds. * Spiritual Manipulation - An unexpected side-effect gave Max the ability to eventually concentrate his connection with the energy of the dead in various ways. Unable to give specific shapes to this energy like his brother Pocket, Max's version of the power seems to be more chaotic and offensively-oriented. Most attacks with this ability are energy blasts, beams, or simply used to power up physical strikes. Has a crimson glow to it. * Explosive Bombs '''- Circular and cast-iron, old-fashioned bombs with a skull imprint and short wick fuse. * '''Pistols - any that seemed appropriate for that particular era of technology * Broad Cutlass '''- a thicker style of cutlass that gave a bit more weight to the swing. Post-Deletion, Current Unable to rely on immortality and having gained experience and tools from his exploits as a mercenary and bounty hunter, Max has decked himself out with various hi-tech gadgetry. He may not carry all his weapons at once, but may be found with any combination therein. * '''Stealth Combat Armor, Mk.II ** High-Capacity Kinetic Shields with stealth capabilities ** Chest-Mounted High-Intensity Flamethrower ** Shoulder-Mounted Heat-Seeking Rocket Salvo ** Cryogenic Grenades ** High-Propulsion Jet Thrusters ** Electric Whip ** Shock Net ** Shock Grenades ** Gravity Boots ** Bracer Blades ** Acid Spray ** Emergency Life Support ** Heat/Night Vision Visor ** Impact-Resistant Plating * Pulse Rifle * Grenade Launcher * Fully-Automatic Assault Shotgun * Laser Pistol * Energy Sniper Rifle * Back-Mounted Gatling Gun * Ammo ** Incendiary ** Shock/Electric ** Cryo ** Toxic * Gas Canisters ** Smoke ** Lethal Toxin